Her Own Fault
by citigirl13
Summary: Katherine's thoughts of Damon over S2 and how they change.


**In a rush to actually get some sleep, so will make this quick: a Katherine/Damon fic. My first one. I must admit I enjoyed writing from Katherine's POV. It was fun. Of all the things Katherine is, she is definitely interesting. Read and let me know if I did her justice! **

**Enjoy! **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters **

**xXx **

**Her Own Fault**

If Katherine is honest, she hadn't given Damon a thought during those years of running. It was all about _Stefan_. His smile, the way he could make simple words sound like poetry in her ears, how he made her heart pound so much she didn't realise that she didn't have a heart – at least, not one that worked.

She doesn't expect to see him when she heads towards the Gilbert house. That wasn't the plan. She simply went to get rid of John – end of. Trust Damon to make her perfect plan slightly flawed. Damn him.

It is the first time she has laid eyes on him since 1864. She has kept tabs on him sure (she is Katherine Pierce; she does not let herself be caught off guard) but she hasn't seen him. He has changed. He has swapped carefully pressed shirts and gentle curls that belong on the head of an angel to dark clothes and smooth locks to match. There is something about his face though, something that Katherine recognises because she has seen it on his face a thousand times: vulnerability. From what Katherine has heard there is nothing vulnerable about Damon Salvatore – at least, not outwardly. He does not show emotions; he has killed as often as he wanted, compelled as he wished. From the outside he is a true vampire.

But no one knows Damon like Katherine does. She knows that Damon Salvatore has a heart – oh yes, it may not be beating anymore, but Damon has always led with his heart. Fool. Katherine knows what happens when you do that. The first times she followed her heart she became pregnant; the time after that she was nearly sacrificed for an obsessive hybrid. Yes, you could argue that she is following her heart now, towards Stefan – but it serves another purpose too. She needs Elena, she needs a vampire, she needs a werewolf. Mystic Falls, true to its name, has them all. Once she has gotten rid of the loose ends she and Stefan can be together. It's so simple and perfect that she would laugh if she wasn't scared shitless that it may not work. This is Klaus after all. No one can predict him.

Damon – still a gentlemen she sees – takes her things and begins to talk. About how he tries to protect this town. How he isn't a good person. To her surprise Katherine listens to him, a little riveted. So this is what has happened to her second choice. He is lost, regretful. He doesn't understand himself anymore. She is disconcerted at this. She had expected him to be cocky, just like her sources have told her he is. She finds herself attempting to comfort him. Trying to make him believe he might be a good person. Katherine has not seen bad Damon. She has only seen the gentlemen, the sweet Damon who believed in love.

When he kisses her, she thinks that maybe he still does. With Elena. And that is good. If Damon drags Elena away from Stefan, so much the better for her. And yet... She can't help but get into the kiss a little. He has improved, she realises. She is glad of that – it makes this kiss all the more enjoyable. She is almost angry at Jenna for interrupting. But at that second she is reminded of what she came here to do.

She would be stupid to forget it.

**xXx **

"Kiss me or kill me."

There is no choice, not really. Not for Damon. And Katherine knows this. So she is not surprised when he kisses her. So predictable. Damon loves her, as he always has. He will never adore Elena the way he adores her. She is his goddess, his angel. He cannot harm her.

Just when things were about to get good he stops, backs away. Katherine has to stop herself from emitting an annoyed growl. She wants sex, and since Stefan has his damn _morals _then Damon will have to do. But now he is attempting a bargain, a deal. He needs to know that if she loves him. She knows the question before he even asks it. There is only one answer.

"The truth is, I never loved you."

She makes sure he understands that it was Stefan, that it is still Stefan. Always Stefan. She watches as his face becomes shocked, becomes numb, and she gives herself a mental pat on the back. Good job. He won't obsess over her any longer. That annoyance is out the way. She leaves him to his pain.

Later, when she hears what happened at the Gilbert household, how Damon Salvatore almost killed Elena's kid brother, she is pleased with herself. She can still get to Damon, still control him. He may not yearn for her, but he will still do whatever she wants. She still controls him, and she loves that. You never know when you might need a lovesick/heartbroken needy vampire at your side.

**xXx **

If she is honest, she isn't certain what she is more surprised at: the fact that Stefan is willing to kill her, or that Damon is.

It's the first time that she has seen the dark Damon. His eyes are clear ice, and she wonders if it is her that has frozen them. The moment he is about to plunge the stake in her heart she forgets that this will destroy them both because it will kill Elena too; all she sees is the gleam of victory in Damon Salvatore's eyes, and this is when she meets the vampire that everyone has been talking about.

When her plan is revealed, she attempts to push him. Tells him that if he kisses her, he will be kissing Elena too. She expects him to come forward, to crash his lips down onto hers. Anything to make Stefan jealous. But he doesn't even budge. This panics her ever so slightly. He isn't so predictable anymore. He doesn't bow to her every need and whim.

She tries again, when she asks for a glass of whisky – okay, maybe "ask" is a bit too strong a word, but that is the point. She smirks when he hands her a glass, but then is thrown off guard when he successfully pins her against the wall. Stefan tries to pull him off, but Katherine is surprised that she barely notices him. Damon is so melodramatic, he always draws attention to him.

"You're so hot. When did you get so...hot?"

It is a game, Katherine admits. A ploy to see if she really has lost all power over Damon. But it is also true. She meant what she said: the old Damon was a bore. While morality looks good on Stefan, it never suited Damon. Maybe that's why he fits the part so well now. Perhaps this, Katherine muses, is his true self. How interesting. Perhaps she has underestimated him after all. Has she really lost all control over him?

Later, when he seals her in the tomb, she realises that she has.

**xXx **

As soon as she takes her first step out the tomb, she laughs. A loud, triumphant laugh. Not just because she can finally take a shower and drink as much blood as she wants – because she has proven to everyone, even herself, that she still knows Damon Salvatore. Once again he has proven that he is utterly conventional. He may not be head-over heels in love with her anymore, but she still knows him. It gives her a bit of hope, though she won't allow herself to think the reason why.

She goes to him first. Partly because she wants to see his shocked face when he realises what a mistake he made, and partly because she needs a shower and he has a decent size bathroom. She is Katherine Pierce – she is used to luxury, which she has been sorely lacking recently.

She can't help but enjoy the look on his face, though she has to admit she is a little annoyed. If he thought for one second that she was Elena Gilbert, she will drive her thumbs into his eyes.

**xXx**

Oh Jesus, is there ever an end to the drama round here? She almost believed she was being paranoid until she saw the dagger begin to lift from Elijah's body. She could _not _let that happen. There may not be many people that Katherine is afraid of, but Elijah is one of them. He has it out for her, especially since she did own his heart for a little while back there. It wasn't her fault people love her. She did not encourage it, not then. She was innocent then.

As soon as the dagger stops moving, she realises something is wrong. A bunch of wood falling only adds to her fear, and she doesn't think when she calls out –

"Damon!"

He comes running. She doesn't even think that it is predictable, doesn't even crow in victory. All she feels is relief; Damon may be annoying, but he is nothing if not useful. He pulls the stake out of her body (which thank God, missed her heart) and then proceeds to set Elijah's body alight. It seems to work, though Katherine doesn't know what it means. At least she is not dead.

He brings her a blood bag. She silently thanks him – but that is before she is stabbed in the stomach. A punishment, for not telling him the dagger would kill her, along with a nice threat. Funny, when she ordered the blood bag she didn't want a side of pain along with it.

He makes her talk. She warns him that he won't like it, but he doesn't care. So she tells him, how John and Isabel want him out of Elena's life. They are terrified of both Stefan and Damon. She tells him how they threatened to kill Stefan if she didn't help – something that her heart will not allow her to happen. When he somewhat smugly points out that John still tried to kill him, she admits that she could only save one of them.

"So you chose Stefan."

He tries to hide it, the pain on his face, but Katherine knows Damon too well. She can see right through him. And she is ever more surprised at how it hurts her, ever so slightly. She chooses Stefan, Elena chooses Stefan – no one picks Damon. She wonders how long he can continue living like this, knowing that he is always the second choice.

She wonders why she feels for him, even if it is only pity.

**xXx **

After all of it, Damon still comes for her. Even after she betrayed them with Isabel, he still helps her. Oh, his remarks are filled with loathing and contempt, but he still brings her the vervain. He is still willing to save her from Klaus, even after everything she has done to him. If the roles had been reserved she would have gladly let him suffer.

Damon came. Not Stefan.

It's the thought that she can't get out of her head, no matter how hard she tries.

**xXx **

Damon has always been reckless, but standing up to Klaus... Even Katherine won't go there. He scares her more than anyone else. He would torture her for years to come if it pleased him. He hates her, and part of her can't blame him.

Klaus out-manoeuvres him of course. That isn't a surprise. What does surprise Katherine is that Klaus doesn't take him for the sacrifice. He is worthless to Klaus, and Katherine wants to know why.

"What is this Damon?"

She grabs his arm, gazing at a mark that has somehow appeared on his skin. It should heal, Katherine has never met an injury that her vampire body cannot heal. This though... She has never seen anything like it. It is another thing that scares her. She doesn't allow herself to think about how many things scare how, how she is afraid of more than she will ever say. She focuses on the present.

She has seen this resignation on Damon's face before. The realisation that yes, things _can _actually get worse.

"A werewolf bite."

Katherine had never met a werewolf before Mason. She has certainly never seen a bite before, though she knows very well why vampires are afraid of werewolves. It is not a clean death, and both she and Damon know it.

He will die. The second Salvatore brother is going to die and she knows it. There is a slight pain in her chest, an ache that she doesn't want to acknowledge but she does. She does not feel sorry for him – she feels sorry for _herself_. She is the one that will lose Damon. He has helped her, even when she has been a bitch towards him. They are like minded, though neither of them will admit it. They will make the choices that no one else wants to. They will follow their hearts even when it gets broken.

She will miss him.

She hates that fact.

**xXx **

Katherine walks in at exactly the right moment. For once she isn't surprised, not at any of it: _Elena _finally kissing Damon, the ache that she feels in her chest at the sight of it. But she doesn't attempt to try and fix it. She knows Damon well enough to know she has missed her chance with him – her own fault. In truth, she doesn't have the heart to hurt him all over again.

She'll leave that to Elena.

Damon doesn't hide his surprise; he didn't expect her to come.

"I owed you."

It's true. Katherine owes Damon, and for so much more than the vervain. Perhaps this will finally fix things between them. Perhaps they can both finally let go.

She will go on running again, away from Klaus. She isn't sure at her chances, but she will try. It has what she has always done. She cannot stay around her. She is sick of the danger, sick of the hatred towards her and the pain, sick of the planning and failing. She wants to have some fun. She wants to forget. She was stupid to try and rekindle her passion with Stefan. She doesn't tell Elena this. No, she has too much pride, but Stefan loves the blood far more than he loves her or Elena. Neither of them have a hope in hell of bringing him back from it.

Damon is different. She can see that now, too late.

Oh well. She'll survive; after all, she's Katherine Pierce.


End file.
